THOUGHT OF THE DAY
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A Blue Ribbon A teacher in New York decided to honor each of
her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. She
called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First she told
each of them how they had made a difference to her and the class. Then she
presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters, which
read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference." Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class
project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She
gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out
and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the
results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week. One of the boys in the class went to a junior
executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career
planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him
two extra ribbons and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition,
and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon,
then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person
to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and
tell me what happened." Later that day the junior executive went in to
see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy
fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for
being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive
asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give
him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said, "Well,
sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on
his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he
said, "Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and
pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the
ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition
ceremony going and find out how it affects people." That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old
son and sat him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me
today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told
me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius.
Imagine. He thinks I'm a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that
says 'Who I Am Makes A Difference'" on my jacket above my heart. He gave
me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. As I was
driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this
ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you. My days are really
hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes
I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your
bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and,
well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your
mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and
I love you!" The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he
couldn't stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and
said through his tears, "Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote
a letter to you and Mom explaining why I had killed myself and asking you to
forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I
just did not think that you cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don't
think I need it after all." His father walked upstairs, and found a
heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain. The envelope was addressed, "Mom and
Dad". The boss went back to work a changed man. He was
no longer a grouch but made sure to let all his employees know that they made
a difference. The junior executive helped several other young people with
career planning and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference
in his life ... one being the boss's son. And the young boy and his
classmates learned a valuable lesson. Who you are DOES make difference. You are under no obligation to send this on to
anyone ... not to one people or to one hundred. As far as I am concerned, you
can move on to another page. But if you have anyone who means a lot to you, I
encourage you to send him or her this message and let them know that they
make a difference in your life. You never know what kind of difference a
little encouragement can make to a person. I give you this blue ribbon. Who you are makes a
difference, And I wanted you to know. ~ Author Unknown ~ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digging a Hole
Two brothers once decided
to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they were working, a couple of
other boys stopped by to watch. "What are you
doing?" asked one of the visitors. "We're going to dig a hole all
the way through the earth!", one of the brothers volunteered excitedly.
It is in the digging that
life is lived. And it is the joy in the journey, in the end, that truly
matters! Author Unknown
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